GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — People in Grand Haven have been turning on 92.1 for their drive to and from work for 67 years. Monday, tuning to 92.1 will get you nothing but static.
The station, WGHN, offers local programming on the lakeshore. On Nov. 21, the city of Grand Haven cut the power supply to the transmitter to terminate the lease of the radio tower atop 5 Mile Hill, which the city owns.
“They utilize that tower for their broadcasting services,” City Manager Ashley Latsch said.
WGHN says they already have a plan in place for a new tower location in Spring Lake. They say they need the city of Grand Haven to let them grab their antenna and transmitter off of their tower because they've been locked out. WGHN disputes some of the claims made by the city. The owner of the station addresses listeners here. WGHN says they have filed an emergency request with the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) to get back on-air with their signal coming from a different tower. WGHN says they'll update the public Tuesday.
The city essentially claims that WGHN failed to pay what they owe the city for not creating enough local content per their contract. WGHN says that isn't the full picture, and that more information will come to light after their attorney with the FCC okays it.
